Aviation Research Research Articles

Internal marketing, employee satisfaction and cultural congruence of Gulf airlines

Purpose Little empirical research has examined the role of culture on the internal marketing-employee satisfaction (ES) relationship, and even fewer studies focus on this subject in the airline sector. This paper aims to assess whether culture moderates the contribution of internal marketing to the satisfaction of employees from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) airlines. Design/methodology/approach The investigation is conducted via a structured questionnaire with 310 cabin crew members who work at three GCC airlines. Multi-group analysis was used within SmartPLS 3.0 to measure whether the impact of internal marketing on ES is moderated by cultural congruence. Findings The results reveal the practice of internal marketing contributes to ES in GCC airlines, while cultural congruence moderates the direct relationship between internal marketing and the satisfaction of airlines’ employees. The results indicate that airlines need to satisfy the cultural needs of employees to increase their satisfaction for successful internal marketing practice. Originality/value This study contributes towards assessing the moderation effects of cultural congruence on internal marketing practice in the airline sector. It contributes to the current literature on aviation research, as well as specific managerial implications for the airlines and managers to achieve higher competitiveness.

Research Progress of Anti-jamming Technology of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) Data Link

An high-speed stealth UAV will be developed by an aviation research institute. Data link is an important part of UAV system. In order to have a deeper understanding of data link system, this paper was made through studying many recent academia papers. The basic composition and working principle of UAV data link system was introduced in this paper, the current UAV data link interference and anti-interference technology was expounded, the key problems faced by the development of UAV data link anti-interference technology were summarized, and the future development trend of UAV data link anti-interference technology was pointed out.

AC Loss Analysis on Coated Conductors at different Sinusoidal Frequencies for Electric Propulsion Applications

Superconducting magnets are one of the superior contenders in achieving the targets of electric aircraft industry successfully as they have very high power densities compared to other battery storage systems. Many aviation research agencies are looking at superconducting magnets as one of the alternate in replacing the conventional jet engines completely (electric aircrafts) or partially (hybrid aircrafts). National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), USA has reported that high temperature superconducting magnets possesses higher specific energies (Wh/kg) and have infinite number of recharge cycles compared to other storage technologies employed for energy requirements. The other advantage of using such magnets is that there will be no hazardous disposals like batteries which lower the overall pollution. Superconducting magnets are DC operated systems however during charging or discharging transient behaviour of current results in the losses which would further ends up with heat generation. Heat generation during charging or discharging period would cause quenching of the superconductor due to sudden temperature rise.In this work, electromagnetic analysis on superconducting magnet having capacity of 1 MJ has been performed where a 2D numerical model is developed using H-formulations in order to estimate the AC losses for a high temperature superconducting tape manufactured by SuperPower (SCS 12050) having 330 A critical current at 77 K. AC current having different load factors has been fed through the stacked tapes at 50 Hz, 60 Hz and 70 Hz frequency and AC losses have been evaluated. It has been found that at higher frequencies the AC losses are found to be larger than lower frequencies. Overcritical currents have been found in the current density distribution due to the application of E-J relationship for the homogeneous 2D numerical model.

Atlas for The Future

Waruna Seneviratne, director of the Advanced Technologies Lab for Aerospace Systems at the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University reveals the machines and goals behind the USA's most-advanced aerospace research facility for applied learning

Growing Academic Physiatry: The Impact of the Baruch's Grants on Harvard Medical School and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Part II.

Growing Academic Physiatry: The Impact of the Baruch's Grants on Harvard Medical School and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Part II.

The Use of Eye Tracking in Assessing Visual Attention

In aviation, procedural errors persist despite pilots having the correct knowledge and ability to perform particular flight tasks. These errors can be attributed to diagnostic errors, inaccurate situational assessment and poor hazard awareness. Eye tracking has emerged as a technology that can be used to monitor pilot performance and provide insights into attentional distribution and the underlying decisional processes. The study used a systematic literature review based on the Preferred Reporting Items for systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRIMA) Statement. Relevant publications were searched from 25 databases. To search the databases, the study used the keywords “eye tracking”, “eye tracking measurements”, “eye tracking aviation safety” and “eye tracking pilot flight performance”, as well as “eye tracking and pilot training” and “eye tracking and pilot assessment”. From these databases, 48 publications were retrieved for analysis. Out of the 48, 33 were abstracts and 15 were full-texts. The 15 full-texts proceeded to systematic literature analysis. These studies were further divided to studies reporting the use of eye tracking as a training tool (7) and studies reporting the use of eye tracking as an assessment tool (8). The literature review demonstrates that eye tracking is a valid and effective tool that can provide quantitative data for flight performance and safety assessment. Continued growth in aircraft cockpit automation means that eye tracking remains an urgent and promising development in aviation research, especially in real-time eye tracking to predict and prevent pilot errors and in the integration of eye tracking technology in intelligent cockpit design.

A Practical Guide for Using Electronic Surveys in Aviation Research: Best Practices Explained

A Practical Guide for Using Electronic Surveys in Aviation Research: Best Practices Explained

Lightweight Research in Engineering: A Review

In the field of mechanical equipment manufacturing, the focus of research and development is not on weight reduction, but on how to choose between the rigidity and performance of components (such as strength or flexibility). For this contradiction, lightweight is one of the best solutions. The problems associated with lightweight were initially considered and systematically studied in aircraft manufacturing in engineering. Therefore, lightweight has been greatly developed in aviation research and has played an increasingly important role in construction machinery. This paper presents a brief description of the current status of lightweight in machinery by reviewing some significant progress made in the last decades. Potential research topics are also discussed from the four aspects of material, structure, bionics, and manufacturing, and they forecast the development trend of lightweight in the future construction machinery. The entire body of literature about the field is not covered due to the limitation of the length of paper. The scope of this review is limited and closely related to the development of lightweight technology in engineering applications.

Evaluation of energy efficient propulsion technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles

The transition to cleaner, more efficient and longer-endurance aircraft is at the forefront of research and development in air vehicles. The focus of this research is to experimentally evaluate hybrid propulsion and energy harvesting systems in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Hybrid systems offer benefits over conventional gasoline and electric systems including lower environmental impacts, reduced fuel consumption, redundancy, and distributed propulsion. Additional energy efficiency can be achieved by harvesting some of the thermal energy of the exhaust gases. The development and experimental evaluation of a hybrid propulsion UAV was carried out at the University of Victoria Center for Aerospace Research (UVIC-CfAR) in the framework of the Green Aviation Research & Development Network (GARDN) grant. The work involved the development of a framework to evaluate UAV hybrid propulsion efficiency, and to predict the amount of power harvestable from thermoelectric generators (TEGs). The objective was to combine all of the components into a modular test bench that will allow the performance of the parallel hybrid system to be characterized and compared with theoretical results. Several experiments were performed to collect performance data of various components including a triple-TEG system connected to an engine, and system variables were modified to simulate flight profiles.

System analysis of turbo-electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems on a regional aircraft

ABSTRACTThe increasing environmental requirements in the air transport sector pose great challenges to the aviation industry and are key drivers for innovation. Besides various approaches for increasing the efficiency of conventional gas turbine engines, electric propulsion systems have moved into the focus of aviation research. The first electric concepts are already in service in general aviation. This study analyses the potentials of electric and turbo hybrid propulsion systems for commercial aviation. Its purpose is to compare various architectures of electrical powertrains with a conventional turboprop on a regional aircraft, similar to the ATR 72, on engine and flight mission levels. The considered architectures include a turbo-electric (power controlled and direct driven), hybrid-electric (serial and parallel) and a pure electric concept. Their system weights are determined using today’s technology assumptions. With the help of performance models and flight mission calculations the impact on fuel consumption, CO ${}_{2}$ emissions and aircraft performance is evaluated.

Topological data analysis for aviation applications

Aviation data sets are increasingly high-dimensional and sparse. Consequently, the underlying features and interactions are not easily uncovered by traditional data analysis methods. Recent advancements in applied mathematics introduce topological methods, offering a new approach to obtain these features. This paper applies the fundamental notions underlying topological data analysis and persistent homology (TDA/PH) to aviation data analytics. We review past aviation research that leverage topological methods, and present a new computational case study exploring the topology of airport surface connectivity. In each case, we connect abstract topological features with real-world processes in aviation, and highlight potential operational and managerial insights.

Flight Path 2050 and ACARE Goals for Maintaining and Extending Industrial Leadership in Aviation: A Map of the Aviation Technology Space

In the last 40 years, the aeronautical industry has managed to move from a specialized sector to a worldwide leading industry. Companies, governments and associations all over the world acknowledge the importance of the aviation industry in supporting global development and the economy. However, aviation will be facing new challenges related to sustainability and performance in a technological environment in evolution. To succeed, the aeronautical industry must keep innovation as one of its main assets. It must master a wide range of technologies and then collaborate to integrate them into an aircraft design and development program. A collaborative approach to innovation is key to achieve these goals. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the structure of technological innovation networks in the aviation industry and to characterize the map of the “Aviation Technology Space”. Two different approaches and methods are used. In one approach, we performed a bibliometric network analysis of aviation research scientific publications using a keyword co-occurrence analysis method to map the aerospace collaboration structures. Complementarily, we performed a patent analysis to evaluate the innovation capacity of the aviation industry in the cutting-edge technologies previously identified. From the results of this analysis, the paper provides recommendations for future innovation and research policies to allow the sector to fulfill the demanding goals by the year 2050.

Research on Aerodynamic Shape Design Scheme of a Distributed Propeller Transport Aircraft and Its Slipstream Effect

With the continuous development and widespread attention of electric propulsion technology in traditional transportation fields such as automobiles and trains, the distributed propeller propulsion technology applied to electric or hybrid electric medium and small scale aircrafts has become a new topic in aviation research. This paper presents a preliminary design scheme of a distributed propeller electric propulsion transport aircraft firstly. Then, based on Reynolds average N-S equations, combined with the SA turbulence model, and replaced the real distributed propellers with simplified disk model, the aerodynamic characteristics of the aircraft with and without slipstream under the condition of low speed and high thrust at low altitude are analyzed. Finally, the effects of pressure distribution, pitching moment characteristics and wing flow on distributed propellers are studied in detailed. The results show that the lift and drag of the aircraft with slipstream are both larger than without slipstream and with slipstream effect, the pitching moment of the wing decreases, the pitching moment of the tail increases. When the tail is far away or completely inside the region of slipstream, the difference of pitching moment of the tail with and without slipstream is little, and the difference is obvious as the tail is only partially in the region of slipstream; When the diameter of distributed propellers is far larger than the wing thickness, more propeller power is used to shove air flow away from the surface area of the wing, and resulting in an insignificant increase in the coefficient of lift.

Generalizability of Effect Sizes Within Aviation Research: More Samples Are Needed

Generalizability of Effect Sizes Within Aviation Research: More Samples Are Needed

Drawing Conclusions about Reliability Withough Measuring It

The importance of having reliable measures in science research is obvious and cannot be overestimated. But in aviation research it often is impractical to collect test-retest reliability data because adding sessions can be expensive. What can be done? Based on classical measurement theory, the present article offers a procedure whereby researchers can draw limited conclusions about reliability even in the absence of reliability data.

Flightpath 2050 revisited – An analysis of the 4-hour-goal using flight schedules and origin-destination passenger demand data

Key benefits of aviation are the provision of connectivity and the reduction of travel times compared to other transport modes. The High Level Group on Aviation Research has laid out in its Flightpath 2050 document the goal that “90% of travellers within Europe are able to complete their journey, door-to-door within 4 hours”. To our best knowledge, this objective has not been further specified in any other official document. The wording leaves considerable room for interpretation when assessing the level of goal achievement. We discuss different approaches for interpretation and apply a connectivity modelling approach to examine the respective degree of goal achievement. For the analysis, we use flight schedules and origin-destination passenger demand data at airport-pair level. Different assumptions on airport access and egress times have been made in order to simulate the door-to-door travel chain. In contrast to very detailed studies on the topic, conducted e.g. by the project DATASET2050, our methodology can be applied easily on available demand and schedules data, so that the progress of the 4-hour-goal can be monitored quickly. Moreover, our approach allows for a quick analysis of sensitivities. We find that a relatively large share of intra-European air passengers travel over distances where the 4-hour-goal cannot be achieved realistically, as even when non-stop flights exist, distances are too far to accomplish a trip within four hours with speeds of sub-sonic passenger aircraft. Moreover, an improvement of connectivity with more non-stop flights seems to be limited, as already today, about 93.5% of intra-European travellers fly on non-stop flights. Limited improvement could be achieved in accelerating airport processes or in applying small air transport / air taxi concepts from smaller airports, which could reduce airport access and egress travel times and distances.

Pragmatic science? Reflections on the academic - industry interactions in a European aviation research programme

In this article we explore the types of science produced and disseminated in human factors research in the cognitive domain. We reflect on the methods and techniques used in the European, Horizon 2020 ‘Future Sky Safety’ Project: Human Performance Envelope (P6). This project has adopted multiple research paradigms, successfully engaging academia and research organizations throughout its four-year duration. We discuss the challenges of conducting practically focused work that can also be brought to publication in peer-reviewed journals. Finally, we frame our research contributions within this project using a recent model of practitioner engagement.

Reviewing the DATAS of aviation research data: Diversity, availability, tractability, applicability, and sources

The field of aviation research is entering the era of big data. While data-driven advancements in aviation have clearly brought about applicable models and results with immediate implications, we argue that the influx of aviation data should be better characterized and documented to enable more efficient and standardized usage. To this end, we examine 200 well-cited research articles from sub-disciplines ranging from revenue management to air traffic control published on or after 2010 in order to analyze the diversity, availability, tractability, applicability, and sources (DATAS) of data utilized in aviation research. We find high levels of data diversity within aviation research, with 16 data categories ranging from air traffic flow management-type data to data from distributed sensors in line with the Internet-of-Things (IoT) paradigm. We identified a dominance of proprietary, non-public data in aviation research, with 68% of the 200 research articles utilizing solely proprietary data in deriving their results, and a further 8% utilizing a mixture of proprietary and publicly available data. The pervasiveness of proprietary data has implications on reproducibility and extending research results. We also highlight the increasing tractability of the data by surveying the computational power required to process the data sets, and present vignettes of applications and results that stem from these data-driven studies. Finally, we propose several recommendations regarding standardizing data source nomenclature as well as increasing the availability of and usage of publicly available data.

Production technologies for lightweight structures made from fibre–metal laminates in aircraft fuselages

Ever-increasing air traffic is placing growing demands on the materials and production technologies for the commercial aircraft of the future, with researchers seeking to significantly reduce the weight of aircraft structures while maintaining the same manufacturing costs. In addition, concepts relating to one-off development and investment costs must also be taken into consideration in order to meet the requirements for cost-efficient aircraft development. The development of a new production chain that will allow automated fuselage production for future short-haul aircraft is the focus of the studies that make up the joint project AUTOGLARE. As part of the fifth call-up for the German Aeronautical Research Programme, DLR is working with its project partners Airbus Operations GmbH, Premium Aerotech AG and the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft to develop a production chain based on fibre–metal laminates as a material, thus allowing a scaling-up to 60 aircraft per month. The work involved in the AUTOGLARE project relates to stiffened fuselage panels (Airbus fuselage sections 13–18) (Muntane in An overview of commercial aircraft 2017–2018. DVB Aviation Research, 2016). In this study, the automated overall process chain is demonstrated using the baseline production technology created at the Technologiezentrum Nordenham, together with the alternative technologies developed at the DLR sites in Stade and Augsburg. In addition to a detailed explanation of the systems that were set up, this paper covers the planned tests, the completed demonstration models and the findings derived from them.

R2O Transition of NCAR’s Icing and Turbulence Algorithms into NCEP’s Operations

National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) started distributing global operational gridded in flight icing, turbulence and convective cloud products as part of World Area Forecast System (WAFS) products in 2007. Simple algorithms were used to derive these products during early stage based on NCEP Global Forecast System (GFS) forecast. These products quickly became essential flight planning tool for international aviation community and are especially important to developing countries that do not have resource to run numerical models themselves. To further improve these products, Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) started collaborating with National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to transition their aviation research algorithms into NCEP’s operations (R2O), particularly Forecast Icing Potential (FIP) and Graphical Turbulence Guidance (GTG) algorithms. The initial attempt is to apply FIP to GFS forecast to potentially replace WAFS icing product. Extensive evaluation demonstrated FIP outperformed original WAFS icing product and, with support from Aviation Weather Center (AWC) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), EMC replaced US WAFS icing product with FIP in 2015. EMC recently also implemented GTG with 2017 GFS upgrade but GTG will not replace WAFS turbulence until 2019. This paper will describe the methodology which EMC used to transition NCAR’s aviation research algorithms into NCEP’s operations. It will also describe how EMC generates icing analysis data to be used as truth for performing objective verification. Several case studies will be presented and the methodology and results for objective validation will be discussed. Finally, future collaboration plan with NCAR and implementation plans to continue to improve WAFS products will be stated.